


Marked

by Anonymous



Category: Kung Fu Panda - All Media Types, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Slow Burn, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, discontinued as of 1/26/2018, i'll make a sequel/one-shot series to make up for it tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-12
Updated: 2017-10-16
Packaged: 2019-01-16 05:38:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12336540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Some people say that when you meet your soulmate or when they’re close, their name begins to burn your skin. Some people are born with their soulmate’s name. Sometimes, there are cases when the name of a person’s soulmate doesn’t appear at first – and there are even times where it takes years for their soulmate’s name to form on their skin. But regardless of how long it takes for the soulmark to appear, when the time comes, that person will meet their soulmate.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Forgive me if the characterizations are a little different, again, it's been so long since I've watched the Kung Fu Panda films along with the show, and I still need to rewatch Rise of the Guardians as well. But I couldn't hesitate writing this, it was just too good of an idea to pass.

Unlike her peers at the orphanage, Tigress didn’t have the name of anyone written on her wrist. The only thing on her wrist was her fur. That only added to the list of reasons why the other children treated her so differently during her years at the orphanage, while the caretakers merely glanced at her wrist and sometimes, she would even hear two of the goats whisper: “She doesn’t even have a mark.”

Up until she was eight, she didn’t understand what they had meant when they referenced her blank wrists. What did they mean by mark? What was so important about a single word, written across her flesh? It didn’t make sense to her – in fact, it made as much sense as the other children ignoring her or avoiding her completely due to being scared. Just what were they so terrified of, exactly? Surely, they couldn’t be scared of her, right?

She thought this way for a while, until she turned nine years-old. Then, she realized some things – such as how she was a little too rough for the other kids, with her lack of control and her temper. She learned what the caretakers meant by ‘mark’ – sort of, to an extent. She learned that a soulmark had something to do with fate, but she still didn’t quite understand it fully. No one was willing to tell her either – because in nearly everyone’s eyes, she was a monster.

But then Shifu came along. He took her in, trained her – taught her how to control her temper, and more importantly, herself. When no adult would adopt her, he took her to the palace as his student. In the end, he was the only father she had. And so, she thought to approach him about one of the many questions she had.

One day, she asked him, “What is a soulmark?”

He sat her down after that, and told her, “A soulmark is the name of someone very important to you written on your skin, usually under your wrist – but when it comes to serpents, it’s written on the, err… back.”

“How important is that someone?” Tigress asked, looking down at her wrists.

“Well… they are on the same level as a husband or wife—”

“Wait, so if two people have each other’s names written on their wrists, does that mean they’ll be lovers eventually or something?”

“Yes.” Shifu rolled up his sleeve, looking at the name written under his wrist for a brief moment, before pulling his sleeve back down. “That is correct.”

“Why don’t I have a name written on my wrist, then?” Tigress questioned.

“Sometimes, the soulmark appears at different times,” Shifu explained. “It is best to stay patient and wait for that time to come, even if it does take years. Being impatient only makes things harder.”

So she listened to him, deciding to focus more on her training instead for the years that would come by and pass. And it did pay off, in the end – even if there were things she couldn’t achieve such as the title of the Dragon Warrior, which had been achieved by a panda who went by the name of “Po” instead. All she wanted was to make Shifu proud. All she wanted to do was protect the Valley – and China in general – from any threat out there.

And in the end, she managed to do both. She, alongside Po, Crane, Viper, Monkey and Mantis managed to make Shifu proud – _and_ they kept China safe. All the training – all the hard work – managed to pay off, in the end.

But one thought still nagged at her – the mark. Every once in a while, she would be reminded of how nearly everyone had a soulmark except for her and Po, and a few others at the palace.

Even then, she still knew Shifu had a mark – though she had only seen it once. The Furious Five all had marks – Crane and Viper having each other’s names written on their wing/back respectively, while Mantis bore a small name on his arm, as did Monkey. She wasn’t bothered by her lack of mark anymore, but it still felt odd seeing almost everyone bearing the name of their significant other on their bodies while she was left blank. Of course, there was Po, but even then, his feelings about the whole thing were much different than hers. He was all too anxious about getting his, while she couldn’t find herself feeling excited about it anymore – because at this point, she knew there’d be no words on her skin anytime soon. Some things just weren’t meant to be, and there was no changing that.

Or so she thought.

She didn’t know when, or how, but one day, she woke up and stretched her arms before she noticed something. She glanced at her arms, and one arm had a name written on it.

 _Bunnymund_.

Tigress’ eyes widened as she stared at the name. For so many years, her skin had beared nothing but her fur – for so many years, she didn’t understand why some people had gotten so worked up over a name, but now she knew why.

Because now she knew – she knew her life wouldn’t be the same, and that life had different plans for her now. And this name – it was only a mere sign that there would be changes, whether for worse, or for the better.

“Why,” she said, staring at the mark. “Why now, after all these years?”

* * *

The first time Bunnymund heard about the soulmark thing was when he was only a small pooka. His mother had been telling him a story, and she'd been raising her arms to emphasize some elements – and soon, he saw the name written on her wrist. He had asked her, “Mum, what's that?” To which she had replied with “Why, it's a soulmark, my son.” She then explained to him how people were usually matched up with their soulnames based on names that would usually be present on their bodies since birth, though there were the rare cases in which it took a while for some people's soulmarks to appear, and in that moment, Bunnymund realized he was one of those people. The late bloomers; those who had yet to have the name of their soulmate on their skin.

And it remained that way for most of his life, until after the recent events that took place – the defeat of Pitch and all. One day, while preparing for Easter, he noticed something on his arm while he was painting an egg.  
It was a name.  
“Tigress,” he read aloud. Then, he paused before his eyes widened. “Tigress. As in, one of China's heroes. As in, the Furious Five's _Tigress_.” He groaned. "God, what have I gotten myself into now?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that the second half is kind of short. I'll try to make Bunnymund's POV longer in the next chapter. Anyway, leave a comment to let me know what you think of this fic so far. :)


	2. Chapter 2

Tigress felt like she couldn’t move. Her legs felt stiff now. After all this time, it happened – she got marked.

“Hey, Tigress? You up yet?” she heard a familiar voice call her name.

“Yes,” she replied.

She watched as five shadows slowly moved toward the door. The biggest one slowly slid the door, opening it.

“Hey, uh…” Po titled his head aside. “What are you still doing in bed? You’re usually the first to get out of your room in the morning.”

Tigress looked down, scratching her neck. “I – uh…”

“She’s acting _kinda_ weird,” Mantis whispered to Monkey, who only nodded in agreement.

“You know I can hear you, right?” Tigress glared at Mantis, who only gulped in response. “Anyway, I was – busy, yeah.” She looked at her arm again.

“…is there something wrong with your arm?” Po asked, noticing the way the tiger was looking at it. It was as if something happened to it. “'Cause if so, I can fetch the doctor.”

“No, no.” Tigress quickly shook her head. “It’s not that.”

“Well, _something’s_ wrong,” Po remarked, walking towards the tiger. He knelt down next to her and grabbed her arm. “Let me see—”

“Po, _don’t_ —”

But it was too late, for he had already seen the name on her arm. It was evident by the way his eyes widened, as he looked at the name, and then back at her. “Oh – oh my gosh.”

“What?” Viper asked, raising an eyebrow while sounding confused. “What’s going on…?”

Po simply showed off Tigress’ arm to the Furious Five, whose eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when they read the name aloud.

“ _Bunnymund_.”

“Yeah. That’s his name,” Tigress said slowly. She noticed how Mantis, Monkey and Po’s lips were now twitching as if they were trying not to grin. “…are you three okay.”

“It’s just—nothing,” Monkey sputtered out as he covered his mouth.

“You… really don’t know, huh?” Mantis asked, snickering.

“Is it because he’s a rabbit and I’m a tiger?” Tigress tilted her head. “Because if so—”

“No, it’s not that,” Po said, not even trying to hide his grin anymore. “It’s just that—Tigress, have you ever heard of the Easter Bunny?”

“Yes,” she answered slowly. “I’ve only heard a bit about him. I don’t celebrate Easter, though.”

“His name must’ve slipped from memory then,” Po guessed. “Because, well – his name is _Bunnymund_.”

Tigress’ eyes widened once more. Her left eye twitched as those words echoed through her mind. Her soulmate wasn’t some random stranger – it was the _Easter Bunny_. “Oh my god,” she whispered. “Please, tell me you’re joking.”

“Unfortunately, he’s not,” Crane said bluntly. “Apparently, fate decided to pair you up with a folkloric figure loved by all children.”

“Well, at least from what I’ve heard he’s not… old. And besides, it’s not like the old food chain matters anymore,” Viper tried to comfort her friend. Unfortunately, her efforts fell flat.

“I refuse to believe that my destiny is linked with the literal Easter Bunny,” Tigress stated.

“Your destiny is linked with what?”

The Furious Five, Po and Tigress all turned to see Shifu standing at the doorway.

“Curse these soulmarks,” Tigress murmured.

* * *

 

“Oh my god, I cannot believe this!”

“Now, Jack, before you say anything—”

“—your soulmate is Master Tigress! Oh, this is priceless!” Jack bent over laughing as he pointed at Bunnymund, who gave him a deadly glare.

“Alright, that’s enough. It’s not like it was my choice, ya know.”

“Still, out of all the women in the world, you got saddled with Master Tigress.” Jack smirked. “Man, are Tooth, North and Sandy gonna love hearing this one.”

“Oi!” Bunnymund’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t you go telling them about my mark – it’s my choice to tell them and mine alone.”

“Hmmm…” Jack pondered about it for a second. “…nah. I’m gonna tell them.”

“What can I do to make you stop… this?”

“Sorry, Bunny, but I can’t help it. It’s not like I choose to have my funny bone acting up over the fact that your soulmate – a literal tiger – is probably thinking to herself right now, ‘How did I end up getting practically engaged to Peter Cottontail?’” Jack joked.

“Don’t call me that,” Bunnymund growled.

“Alright then, Mr. Tigress.”

“ _JACK!_ ”

“What’s going on?” Bunnymund heard a soft voice ask. He turned and saw Toothiana, North and Sandy.

“Nothing,” he quickly said.

“Oh, no – there’s definitely something going on,” Jack said, sounding even more amused than before. “'Ol Bunny here has gotten his soulmark.”

“Jack—”

“Oh, how wonderful!” Toothiana squealed.

Sandy smiled and walked over to Bunnymund to shake his paw.

North chuckled. “Well, who is this lucky lady then?”

Bunnymund shot a glare at Jack. “I swear to god, if you say another word—”

“—it’s Master Tigress.”

“I’m gonna kill you, Frost,” Bunnymund murmured as he saw the other guardians expressions change from cheerful to shocked.

“Totally worth it,” Jack whispered, grinning.


End file.
